Mostly Illiterate

I had breakfast with some friends this morning. After the usual exchange of unpleasantries (you kind have to know my friends to get that — my parents, too), we got down to ordering food and coffee.

Bethany then told the story of what she remembers as the most horrifying moment in her life: “I was listening to the radio, and agreeing wholeheartedly with the speaker for about half an hour before I realized it was G. Gordon Liddy. I literally screamed out loud.”

This is kind of a departure from what I’ve usually recommended here, but it’s pretty good. Mike Doughty has a voice that’s a little more melodic than Robert Earl Keen’s, and his sound is a little more produced than Keen’s (except, maybe, for Picnic). Kind of a folky, rocky sound as opposed to Keen’s folky, country sound.

I first heard his cover of Magnetic Field’s “The Book of Love” in episode 479 of the Coverville podcast. The only way you can get this song, though, is by buy the whole album from iTunes. However, the rest of the album isn’t bad. “Fort Hood” is a solid track, while the quasi-hip-hop “More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle” doesn’t really contribute much to the album.

Axel started preschool on his third birthday. To celebrate, we took him to the All Aboard Diner. The following weekend, we had a party, and then we took him to Heritage Fest in downtown Downers Grove.

The Boy ran himself absolutely ragged. Even as a Pirate.

See more evidence of the fun here.

I went to the Highland Games at the Oakbrook Polo Grounds today. I did not toss a caber. But I did eat a sausage roll. And drank a lot of whisky. I even tried on a utilikilt! There are a whole bunch of a photos of the day here.

I took the day off from work today so the three of us could visit the MSI. We saw a whole bunch of things, including

• The Glass Experience
• Smart Home: Green + Wired
• U-505 Submarine
• Dinosaurs Alive!
   

Even with all of that, we only saw about 25% of what there was to see.

We stuck around for a picnic dinner followed by a 75th Anniversary Presentation on the north lawn of the museum, which ended in a short fireworks display.

Axel walked pretty much all day — with and without his walker — until the presentation started. At that point, he promptly fell asleep and didn’t even stir when the fireworks went off. It was a great day.

There are some more pics here.

I have the best helper ever.

It’s good to see the Boy thinking outside the box. The world is his canvas. It’s a kind of performance art.

Yeah, whatever. It’s fun making messes.

I built this outdoor party cooler out of mostly recycled materials — the tub and legs are from the house Tanya’s mom lived in as a little girl, and most of the dimensional lumber was salvaged from a demo job at the church I went to as a wee lad. The molding is new, as is the drainage system and the Styrofoam insulation in the body. And the bottle opener.

The thing holds over three cases of beer and three 22-pound bags of ice.

Personally, I think the kid has the right idea.

By now, you should have some sense of my taste in music. If you don’t, click on the Audio tag to see what’s what.

So this morning, I heard a track on the Indiefeed Electronica podcast by a band called Bitter:Sweet. It’s the second track of theirs I’ve heard on a song-of-the-day podcast that made me stop and pay attention. This track, “Waking Up,” has the same kind of funky sound coupled with the breathy, ethereal female vocals I like so much and that seems to fill so many other people with rage. The first track of theirs I heard is the Yes King Remix of “The Mating Game” off their remix album titled The Remix Game. Listening to their other offerings, “The Bomb” off Drama and Nicola Conte’s “West Coast Vibes” remix of “Heaven” off The Remix Game both sound like they’re worth 99 cents (or 5 Pepsi Points).

Drama is available on iTunes, but not on Amazon.com yet. However, both sites have samples of the tracks

Enjoy!